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The backlash against sugar is gathering quite a pace now as the sugar levels in familiar foods are being highlighted in the press. But while we now know that a can of Coke contains a hefty dose of sugar, it's useful however to be reminded quite how much (35g, or nine teaspoons). How about a Mars Bar? That's not far off with 30g, or eight teaspoons.

Everyone might know that such foods are going to contain sugar but quite how much is still shocking. But what of the products that have a healthy identity? The amount of sugar in some of the so-called healthier foods is shocking too, not because they have as much as a Coke or a Mars, but because they have more than you might imagine.

Comparing a Mueller Crunch Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt to a Rachel's Organic Fat Free Blueberry Yogurt might seem like an unfair play off in the health stakes. The former is clearly not making any allusions to health and so anyone eating it shouldn't be expecting it to be low in sugar or fat. But still, there's 23.6g sugars in 135g, or 17.5g per 100g. So, it's a medium sugar food.

Now let's look at the latter. Every word in the title has a healthy aura, some more so than others, but a quick look at the ingredient list shows that there's more added sugar than blueberries. The same 135g portion is going to deliver 18.7g of sugars (or 14.1g per 100g). Still 'medium sugar'. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Rachel and her delicious organic yogurts, but to the unsuspecting consumer who thinks they are making a better choice, there's not as much between the two examples as one might hope for, certainly in terms of just sugars.

A 51g Mars bar might deliver up 30g of sugars making it a very high sugar food at 59.7 per 100g. But eating two small Natures Valley Oat and Berry bars (42g combined) is going to give you 8.7g of sugars. Or 20.7g per 100g. Once again, the whole aura of a noble brand such as Nature's Valley might lead one to expect it to be lower in sugar than it is. The sugar is to some extent offset by the other worthy ingredients, but the sugar content is still higher than one might expect.